Chapter 1324 (2/2)

The man returned to reading his papers and Vualla walked down the hallway to a door that led to an open sky so filled with stars that it almost appeared to be morning. Randidly couldn’t get a good view from his lingering presence only in the hand print on Vualla’s back, but it seemed that the celestial bodies above were impossible clear at this place.

From the building, Vualla walked quickly forward out onto a vast and dusty field. Tall and grotesque edifices of curling bone were spaced equally apart on the field, humming with all the peaceful ferocity of a sleeping bear. And even just as a small presence of Nether clinging onto Vualla, Randidly pursed his lips as he felt the insidious and grinding presence of images coming from each of those constructions.

What a powerful suppression, even when they are inert… so Octavius wasn’t wrong about the sort of training they subject their recruits to.

To Randidly’s surprise, Vualla made a beeline for the nearest image producing device. And as they neared, it began to buzz to life, instantly releasing a grating mental pressure that covered Vualla’s face with tight lines. But once the thing activated and Vualla began to move through some basic punching motions, Vualla’s face split into a wide smile. “It was very dumb of you to do this. But I’m glad you did. Happy birthday, by the way.”

A strange sort of tightness that Randidly hadn’t even noticed previously dropped away as he heard the raw gratitude in Vualla’s voice. Simultaneously, he made a very dark sort of promise for vengeance when he heard the raw weariness in Vualla’s tone. Although her eyes were still the same bright, clear color of the deep sea, her hair had darkened and dimmed somewhat. There were deep bags under her eyes.

The image of that twisting bone toward buzzed incessantly next to them.

They weren’t kidding about the training being designed to push you to the edge… if even Vualla is like this… so this is the Xyrt Brigade.

Unable to resist, Randidly allowed a little bit more of his Nether to flow through the Nether Ritual and into Vualla’s body. She stiffened at first, but Randidly carefully circulated the energy around the surface of her skin. With the thick potency of Randidly’s new Nether, it almost completely blocked out the aggravating effects of the nearby image. Although it flowed around them, they were an island of peace in a stormy sea.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether RItual (A) has grown to Level 164!

“Holy shit, that feels good,” Vualla sighed. She shook her head and then jerked her chin up toward the humming shape above them. “Without these pieces of shit, this training camp wouldn’t be so bad. But even at your weakest, they keep you under its effects. To build resilience, but I do sort think it’s just a way to grind you down so their rhetoric sticks better…”

“Vualla, are you alright?” Randidly asked softly. “I wouldn’t normally just try and connect to you like this… but I hadn’t heard from you in a while. And some of the things I heard about he Xyrt Brigade’s training…”

“Probably all true,” Vualla’s voice was raw. She continued to mechanically move through the motions of her punches, exhaustion keeping her joints stiff even as she warmed up. “And I’m… managing. I’m really sorry I haven’t been able to reply. They give us literally no time to do anything but train. I’m glad you reached out, honestly. Because it reminds me why enduring through all this will be worth it.”

Randidly let a little bit of the icy killing intent he had recovered from that memory of Yystrix in the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night slip through the Nether Ritual. “To reap the vicious karma this System has sewn. To collect a long owed debt.”

A reminder… that’s a good word for it. But what do I need to be reminded of…?

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece Dreamcatcher of the Long Night has grown to Level 30!

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece Dreamcatcher of the Long Night has grown to Level 31!

“To tear down the Nexus.” Vualla’s eyes flashed. Her own image of destruction blasted outward, the human form perfected into the ultimate tool of annihilation. The next punch she threw it howled with power; the image was so domineering that even Randidly felt the Nether barrier he conjured in Vualla’s body flicker and fail for a brief moment. “For the freedom to decide our own fates.”

“A terrible Path,” Randidly breathed.

“One we aren’t taking alone,” Vualla replied. “Which makes all the difference.”

With a warm feeling in his chest, Randidly reached through the Ritual, this time bringing with him a bit of his own image. Yggdrasil’s golden roots wound their way forward to circle Vualla’s Soulspace. Then, in the manner that Randidly had learned on the frontlines while still just an image, he began to provide life energy to Vualla’s image to help its own recovery.

Congratulations! Your Skill the Golden Roots of Yggdrasil (L) has grown to Level 238!

Still, it turned out that despite her physical wear and tear, Randidly’s worries were unfounded. Currently, Vualla’s image was still quite robust and powerful. When she activated it, the raw might it contained left Randidly’s images in the dust. Partially because he had been so focused on Nether and the situation on Earth recently, but also because Vualla truly was monstrously talented when it came to this sort of energy utilization.

But the more that Randidly examined the image, the more that he could see flaws. The details were inconsistent. Although the edges were harsh and overbearing, the interior of the image wasn’t as oppressive. It had been so overworked and drained that some of the vibrancy of its core motivation was lost.

That was what Randidly could foster now. And so he did so.

Vualla stiffened at first, but then the tension flowed out of her body and she collapsed on the ground. “Ohhh… holy shit Randidly, that feels so good. Was my image really that worn down?”

“A little rough around the edges, but it should be fine,” Randidly hummed as he continued to channel energy through their connection. Part of what flowed over with his image was trace amounts of Aether and Nether, which would do a lot to help resist the sort of grinding damage that these bone towers could do.

Vualla chuckled dryly. “Don’t power me up too much. The trainers will notice.”

“Nah, this is all you, Vualla.” After another minute, Randidly nodded in satisfaction as he felt Vualla’s image returning to its natural form. “Besides, didn’t that man say the Xyrt Brigade designed the training regimen perfectly? This must just be the result of a well-made plan.”

“Uh-huh, the night after I deviate from their well-made plan during my rest time?” But Vualla’s smile was wry. She leveraged herself up from the ground and stretched with her arms over her head. A yawn dominated her feature for fully five seconds before she could speak. “But this is just the beginning. I’ll be here for at least five more months. What about you? What are you up to?”

“Something similar, as it turns out.” Randidly once more let his killing intent show through. “The Swacc Family arranged for a Xyrt Brigade Special Investigator to be sent to Earth to make sure we fail the Nexus’s most recent test. I will likely need to kill the investigator.”

“May he rest in peace.” Vualla gentle smile of support and faith was everything that Randidly had wanted it to be. “Punch him right in the face for me, would you? Just once. This place… I hope this all is worth it.”